OH, side note, we rented a car, and it ended up being a 2012 version of my little car, with all the bells and whistles. I so wanted to buy it, but Hubs had to remind me that wouldn't be a smart economic decision right now. Boo.
The next day we went to Acadia National Park which was amazing. We checked out Sand Beach, and did a bit of hiking. Sand beach was where I went into the ocean for the first time. It was also the first time I've ever seen an ocean up close. (The only other was flying to China, and seeing them out the plane window.) The water was frigid. 64 degrees. But it was nice once my feet were so numb I couldn't feel the pain anymore.
The following day it rained. End of story for that day. Well...we did eat. The food was good.
The day after rainy day was one of the best days. We started the day off by getting up early to hike The Beehive. The Beehive trail is considered "strenuous" on Acadia's trail maps. It is considered strenuous because it has ladder rungs and ladders to help you climb it. If it didn't, you would die. (Side note: The ladders on the trail were just metal bars drilled into the cliff rocks that made what looked like a ladder on the side of the cliff, there were also actual ladders that were laid down over spaces that had gaps you couldn't jump, so that you could walk across the ladder and not fall to your death.) So we started climbing, and we get to our first ladder and I basically have a panic attack, but I go across. After that it was pretty smooth sailing, and we made it to the top in about 45 minutes. Scaling a mountain cliff in 45 minutes....not bad. Here's the view from the top.
After we hiked, we went sea kayaking. Now this was an amazing experience. Not to mention a salty one. We started at one side of the island, and kayaked about six miles to the other side. We saw tons of seal, birds, eagles, and seaweed. I asked about sharks being around since there were so many seals (I watch Shark week, I know what they eat.) but our guide said she never saw one in the harbor but that doesn't mean they aren't around....riigghhtt, and by around you mean lurking below my very close to the ocean kayak right? If I was making my money doing kayak tours, I probably wouldn't tell my clients that I saw a shark even if one bit my leg off. Good news is, we never saw one. Dodged a bullet there.
After kayaking we ate dinner at this fabulous little restaurant called Cafe This Way. Super gourmet, and super delicious.
The last and final day we were in Maine, we woke up at 4:45AM to see the sunrise over the ocean. It was incredibly foggy the entire day, and especially in the morning, but it was beautiful. I'll let the pictures do the talking for this one.
After we watched the sunrise for a while, we decided to go for another early morning hike. This time we started at around 6AM. We had this idea to reach the top of Cadillac Mountain (the highest mountain in the park), but we couldn't find a trail to save our lives. So we did what any young couple would do, we got lost, blamed it on each other, and decided on a trail that we just randomly found by chance that had the words "Cadillac Mountain" on it. We looked on the trail map and it was labeled "difficult" which was less than "strenuous" so we figured it would be cake. I mean it had to be easier than Beehive if it was less than strenuous....right? Wrong. Very wrong.
From the second we had to scale a small cliff, I knew we were in for it. Sheer rock faces to scale, gigantic boulders to climb over, openings over the edges of the mountain that led, you guessed it, straight down, overall this was probably the worst choice we could have made to make it to the top. And to make it even better, all of the rocks were wet with running water coming from the top. Translated: Super slippery. I honestly thought that one of us was going to get hurt, or fall off the entire mountain at some point, but just like the Beehive, you reach a point where you can't go back. It was too dangerous to turn around and go down those slippery rock faces.
Overall it was the most scared I've ever been climbing in my life, and we probably wouldn't do it again without ropes or something. However, there is one beautiful thing that came out of it. The view.
We also became infinitely more buff from climbing it. Added bonus.
This was also the day that we went whale watching and sailing. Whale watching was indescribable. It was so surreal to see these gigantic creatures right next to you. The fog made it hard to find them, but when we did, oh my, was it breathtaking. We saw four Humpback whales in total. So worth the trip. {Side note: Hubs and I now know we could handle a cruise because the waves were so big they made the boat move every which way, and we were not a part of the 50 or so people getting seasick off the back of the boat.}
Sailing was the last thing we did in Bar Harbor. We went on a sunset
cruise on a six person sailboat called "The Chrissy". It was owned by
Captain Ed, and it was a very relaxing end to our lovely vacation.
Best honeymoon ever.
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